Today 99.9% of
American music fans have no idea who The Tee Set were. Of that
remaining tenth of a percent who may actually recognize the name, it's
equally unlikely that they've heard anything from the band besides their
fluke 1969 hit 'Ma Belle Amie".

While
I'm not a huge fan, I'll readily admit that the band has one of the most
convoluted histories I've ever stumbled across.

Born
and raised in the Dutch city of Delft, Peter Tetteroo started his
professional career in 1960. Only 13, he fronted a cover band, The
Defenders. Working part time in a local restaurant Tetteroo persuaded
the owner to allow the band to perform at the restaurant. Over the
next three years The Defenders became a popular local act.
Unfortunately when The Defenders were offered an opportunity to tour
Germany, the 15 year old Tetteroo was forced to drop out of the group.

Tetteroo
subsequently hooked up with The Shats. With a line up consisting of bassist
George Barendse, drummer Carry Janssen, keyboardists Robbie "Bambi''
Plazier, lead guitarist Gerard "Gerry" Romeyn and rhythm guitarist
Robbie "Polle" Eduard the band continued to work part time on the
restaurant and club circuit. 1965 saw the band unsuccessfully audition
for EMI Holland, but within a matter of months the Dutch Negram/Delta label
signed them to a contract. Concerned that Anglo audience might
construe the band name as the past tense for 'shit', they briefly became
'The Delft Blues', before hitting on the somewhat clumsy The Tee Set.

As
part of the incentive for signing with Delta, the band was given an
opportunity to record a song written by The Motions Robbie van
Leeuven. Released as their debut single, 1966's 'Early
In the Morning' b/w 'Nothing Can Ever Change This Love' (Delta catalog
number DS-1194) provided them with a Dutch top-40 hit. A second van
Leeuven was picked as their sophomore
release. Like the debut, 1966's 'Believe
What I Say b/w 'Don't Mess with Cupid' (Delta catalog number1204) also hit the Dutch top-10 charts.

With
his background in the restaurant business, long time manager Theo Kuppens
had always been rather astute in directing the band's career. Unlike
most groups, the band paid for their own recording efforts and retained the
rights to their master tapes which were leased to Negram/Delta. In a
then unusual move, in 1967 Kuppens and Tetteroo decided to form their own
label (Tee Set Records).

At
the same time, the band literally exploded with van Eijck, Deuard, Fenwick
and van der Linden handing in their notices in order to form the band After
Tea. Tetteroo quickly set about rebuilding the band, recruiting most
of the members of the Dutch band James Mean.

With
a new line up consisting of Peter Tetteroo, drummer Joop Bloom, keyboardist Jan
Pieter Boekhoorn, guitarist Ferdi
Karmelk, and bassist Franklin Madijd in place, the group released
1967's "Join the Tee Set". Produced by Tetteroo, the album was packaged as
a psychedelic excursion (check out the inner sleeve photo of the band decked
out in Japanese garb). That said, self-penned material such as 'I Can
Only See Your Face', 'Take Me for a Little While' and 'Who Are You Thinking
of Now' reflected an ongoing desire to remain commercial, including several
stabs at horn augmented blue-eyed soul. While the occasionally clunky
English lyrics could be overlooked ('Tea Is Famous'), Tetteroo's strained
vocals were a bigger problem. Lacking much in the way of range, on
tracks such as 'Life's But Nothing' and '' you were left wondering if he was
going to make it through the song, or explode with a sudden aneurysm.
Elsewhere, the band turned in one of the weirdest Dylan covers you'll ever
hear. The first time I heard their cover of Dylan's 'It's All Over
Baby Blue' I could've sworn I was listening to something out of The Four
Tops catalog. Fascinating in a weird fashion. Elsewhere two
Dutch singles were pulled from the LP: